Unwanted drugs to be collected by Pike sheriff

Pike County Sheriff Phil Bueki has arranged a time when unwanted and unused prescription drugs will be collected—no questions asked.

The disposal date is Saturday, October 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot behind the Sheriff’s office on Broad Street, next to the County Administration Building.

Controlled, non-controlled and over-the-counter medications will be collected. Collection efforts will be combined with community drug awareness activities and involve the distribution of brochures and other information. Liquid products and creams in containers will also be accepted. Syringes will not be accepted due to the potential hazard posed by blood-borne pathogens.

“We will turn the drugs over to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who will then destroy them,” the sheriff said. “Prescription drugs are a dangerous source of drugs that can be abused by youth and adults.”

People have generally flushed these medications down the toilet in order to get rid of them, and it’s not a healthy practice, he said.

“Water levels in cities and townships have high levels of antibiotics in them because of this practice,” he said.” That’s probably the main reason for this event. This event will be helpful to the environment.”

The transfer of drugs at the site will be totally anonymous.
“There will be no hidden cameras or anything like that,” he said. “Our main purpose is to get these potentially harmful drugs out of our communities,” he said.

Last April, Americans turned in 376,593 pounds, or 188 tons,
of prescription drugs to nearly 5,400 sites operated by the DEA and more than 3,000 state and local law enforcement partners.

The rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused drugs are obtained from family and friends.